Car backup cameras are now mandatory: Okay for saving lives, even better for music and navigation

The very safest solution: belt and suspenders

Here’s a modest proposal for a truly safe car. This is what you should have to protect people and property. If you avoid backing into another or scratch your fender against a bicycle or trash can, you’ve saved the collision deductible that costs about as much as a good vision field around the car.

Start with a backup camera, preferably with normal, wide, and trailer-hitch views. Give it a cleaning system as Nissan uses. Add parking sonar, at least in the rear, preferably sonar that functions as cross traffic alert, meaning when you’re backing out of a parking spot, it alerts you to cross traffic in a mall parking lot. (Some automakers use these sensors for blind spot detection as well: three birds with one stone). Put caution lights inside the car on the sides of the rear windshield so you see which side the obstacle is on, as GM does.

Display the view on a big LCD, at least 6 inches, with a deep hood or technology that resists direct sunlight. Add backing lines that show directly behind you as well as your current path with the steering wheel turned. Put waves of green-yellow-red around hazards, as BMW does so well. Finally, use four cameras, one on each side of the car. It’s mostly for parking in tight spaces but it also shows kids, pets, and toys you could scrape or knock over.

That is a safe car. It will reduce deaths and the many non-fatal injuries that happen when back. It also saves your property and car from damage. While things are less important than lives, damage to the car and property is far more common. Last of all, you’ve got a display that makes your phone more useful. Safer, too.

Tagged In

This is finally going through. You will hear one more round of automakers saying it will cost 2X what the feds say it will cost. But they are more than ready. The 2015 Honda Fit that is ready to ship this spring is one more car with the backup cam installed.

AdamRadzik22

Honestly, this is on par with the EU ruling regarding phone cords. I’m not saying it won’t save time/money, maybe lives, but so would lots of things that have no business being under government oversight. It seems like minutia that should be left up to people making cars and people buying cars.

While we’re at it, we should ensure that you now need to weight 100 pounds or be 14 years old before not being in a booster seat. IT WILL SAVE LIVES!!!

….anyway, rant over.

As for the article, that is a really good point that I hadn’t thought of. When these screens are mandatory, it will inevitably lead to cool stuff being able to be linked or displayed on them.

SlaveII

Well, the EU ruling was a directive on the generation of waste, not consumer convenience (although convenience for the consumer is a nice side-effect which probably made it an even easier sell).

I think this is probably an agree to disagree point, but it seems that only a government agency is in a position to regulate safety standards on cars. What should and should not be important enough to be included in such standards is a different issue.

AdamRadzik22

I do agree in part. If it wasn’t for regulations, then I’m sure some cars wouldn’t have any rear view mirrors, seat belts, etc. This just feels like a huge overstepping of bounds. And I’m curious how much lobbying was done by camera/screen software or manufacturing companies here.

EDIT: And while I do disagree wholeheartedly with the decision, that doesn’t stop me from being pretty excited about what these large screens will bring in in terms of other displays, attachments, peripherals, hook-ups, etc. that might be able to be integrated into things.

Ivor O’Connor

“that doesn’t stop me from being pretty excited about what these large screens will bring in in terms of other displays, attachments, peripherals, hook-ups, etc. that might be able to be integrated into things.”

It will bring in a whole lot more electronics half of which will be dead weight in a few years as people will not have the money to constantly keep spending $1,000 for each minor fix. It will be a long time before repairing these electronic things becomes something easily done by the owners themselves.

dc

Government planning has done nothing but make cars boring and all too similar to each other. You can keep your regs and your obamacare.

Bill Howard

The phone makers didn’t lobby hard against making phone cords standard and making them separate from the phone. Now they’re dirt cheap, if you lose a Samsung cord you can borrow the one off your HTC, and the transformers last for several phones. Yes, it’s intrusive, but gently intrusive. As Slavell notes, this was about cutting waste.

dc

So there is a government standard for phone cords? Let me plug an iPhone into my Nexus cord. Oh wait, they aren’t the same….

Maybe because you just made that law up….

Bill Howard

Already virtually every phone sold has a transformer separate from the cable. If your Nexus comes with a transformer, it should charge most any other phone via that phone’s cord. The transformer block has a USB jack; that’s universal. As you’ve pointed out, the phone end is different and that is unlikely to change, although now it’s pretty much down to 3: Micro USB, old Apple, new Apple (Lightning). You can use the transformer for multiple generations of phones. There are some occasional incompatibilities. I have a four-port USB charger where one port is marked Samsung, one is marked Apple b/c sometimes one doesn’t work on another. The EU is about to get tougher and make radio devices hew to a single charging electrical standard so every transformer works with every cord. On the one hand it’s big brother if you’re a dedicated libertarian, on the other it’s going to make life a lot easier for consumers. If an HTC can bring out 50 new phones / variants, it has the engineering resources to make a truly universal charger. I just bought a 5-port charger (Anker, $25) that has it figured out and can charge 5 10W tablets simultaneously, not just phones. In the old days of chargers connected to cords, a replacement transformer for that one phone ran $25, and another $25 for the car charger.

dc

Ah the wonders of the progressive thought. If only I could drink the kool-aid. But I don’t like the taste.

Government control sounds rosey, and often in the short run it has some seemingly good results. As you say, if everyone is using the same cord then the price may go down. That sounds good. But it also means that no new company can come out with a new cord that may work better, unless they ask the government’s permission first, permission which will no doubt be lobbied against by the companies making the old product. Leading inevitably to stagnation and a lack of innovation.

Anyway nice way to dodge the counter to my original point, which is that there is no law regarding phone jacks. Nor is there a USB law, whether it is “universal” or not. The laws weren’t needed….

Ivor O’Connor

Libertarians are about making the world a better place by cutting out waste. Usually they don’t like taxes seeing as how it goes to corporate welfare like the military industrial complex or to welfare communities. However stopping companies from stealing by using proprietary standards for no reason is good government and fully supported by Libertarians.

dc

it’s not supported by Libertarians, of which I am one. I always find it humorous when Democrats try to steal our platform and twist it into some “reasonable regulation.”

Ivor O’Connor

huh? I’m a libertarian. Not following you on the rest of your comment. Are you saying libertarians do not support cutting out waste?

dc

Sure cut it out through capitalism. If you don’t like the product don’t buy it. Corporations can’t steal from you in a free market. You make your own choices as to which products to purchase. Most people would opt to buy the cheaper product. Some, of course, will still buy the more expensive one for prestige reasons.

It isn’t capitalism that allows corporations to steal from you, it is when corporations pay politicians for special deals, special legal protections, regulations which protect the wealthy and push start ups out of the marketplace, monopolies (cable companies in the USA), bail outs (bankers) and other special deals which allow them to create wealth inequality.

Ivor O’Connor

It’s a bit more complicated.

dc

it’s not, you have just been conditioned to believe that.

Ivor O’Connor

Actually knee jerk reactions usually belong in the realm of the far right. Being a libertarian is all about thinking for yourself, deeply, and taking responsibility after you have understood the lay of the land. Usually once you take the time to understand something a lot of government regulations are not needed. Yet sometimes they still are. You have to think it through.

dc

Yes I imagine that you consider most Libertarian ideology to be “knee-jerk” and “Far Right.” Why not just call me a Nazi? That seems to be part of your agenda.

Reasonable Regulations, right Ivor. I bet you support gun control too and a thousand other reasonable regulations. You can call yourself Libertarian all you want, but I’ll just call you a Democrat. Have a nice day.

Ivor O’Connor

I’m glad you vote Libertarian.

Ivor O’Connor

He did not make that up. Apple though found a way to convince the judges they were different and should not be forced to use standards.

I hope this is a belated April fools joke. Damn government sticking its nose everywhere telling us when we can fart and other trivia to irritate us while they do as they please.

Bill Howard

The government shouldn’t tell you where. But roll down the window, Ivor. Or at least don’t strike a match.

Ivor O’Connor

lol :-)

kroozin

Although I like the idea of having a rear view system with a large LCD screen, I wonder if the “added” functionality for music, GPS, etc… will be the next thing that distracts the driver from keeping his attention on the road (just like cell phones did when they appeared on the scene).
.
If anything, the powers that be (i.e. gov bodies) should concentrate more on driver education to produce better drivers. Better drivers = less accidents.

Bill Howard

There will be more and less distraction. You will use your phone tools more and anything you do will be distracting, but when it’s via the LCD and dash controls, it’s less distracting than holding the phone in your hand while reading the map.

If the government is serious about cutting driver distraction, it would outlaw joggers in halter tops. Or buff highway construction workers.

kroozin

Bill you have a very good sense of humor. I laughed out loud at your last two sentences, to the surprise of my daughter sitting near me. :)

I’d really like a camera on the back of my car. I hate not being able to see there when reversing. And I don’t even drive the tank sized things most do in ‘murca.

Bill Howard

Nissan is getting a lot of buyer interest in its itty-bitty Versa with cameras at all four corners. Even small cars, you might miss a kid behind the car. And the surround cameras make it easier to park in the small spaces only a Versa, Fit, Fiesta, Spark or Mini can fit in, but still it’s tight.

dc

Plan to buy used cars the rest of my life. I hate all that electronic crap.

Aaron Fritsch

Make turn signals mandatory first. Oh wait. They are. You shouldn’t be able to change lanes or turn a corner without using it first.

SuperTech

This of the millions of people who will be getting these beautiful 6-8″ screens in their car, only to get home and find it does not include satellite navigation, (or any other function except for back up cam). And yes, sadly they will sell millions of cars equipped that way.

Barry P

If this large screen is going to be used for backup viewing and especially navigation, it should be centered in front of the driver, not off to the right on the center column.(in left hand drive vehicles)
When using gps navigation the driver can just glance down quickly to see the map without needing to turn their head all the time.

dc

can you play porn on this?

Kent Clark

So we’ll all have to buy a 6′ LCD screen and a small camera at 10x the normal cost (which is what it is when included with the car compared to buying it at an electronics store) so that by YEAR 2054 60 lives/year will be saved!? Another example of government bureaucrats with nothing better to do than to micromanage our lives.

Barry P

I think the industry was already heading in that direction regardless of government intervention.
But as you said, because of making it mandatory, the salesman in the show room can now blame the government for the extra $4000 on the sticker price.

Ginny Chan

Great, just what we need, more electronics and distractions inside automobiles. As if smartphones, GPS’s, playstation vitas, gameboys, CD players, MP3 players, and large LCD touch screen displays, etc. weren’t enough, now we can add cameras and monitors to the list. Everything to keep your attention away from the items that matter most: the road and your surroundings.

I’m not saying this isn’t a nice feature, but seriously? Requiring it? Is there an epidemic of people being backed over I haven’t heard about? Or are using our mirrors too old school?

Let me guess – there is going to be a tax and an insurance increase for people who don’t get these installed. I’m lucky enough to live in a state without a lot of registration costs (Arizona), and I pay $25/month for insurance (from 4AutoInsuranceQuote), and even then, I can still barely afford to drive. If these things cost us more money, I swear to god…

IMO – This is just more crap to quit working on your new car.

Bill Howard

When new cars with more safety cost more, then people living on marginal incomes defer buying newer, safer cars. Safety has its costs.

Marble Shark

And why not just hire someone to personally stand behind your car acting as a second pair of eyes while we’re at it – it would probably be cheaper than this idiot’s ludicrous suggestions…

ripsokindynos

And this is supposed to make better drivers?!?!? Most people don’t even know how to use their side mirrors. From what I saw last time I drove in the US, slower cars are driving in the left lane. It’s just another gadget to make money from, Geeez.

Bill Howard

Good. You grasped the last part of the story. Because people don’t pay attention, some lives won’t be saved unless the car has sonar *and* a backup camera. Adding sonar may add another $100 to the price of the car beyond the $50-$100 it costs for a backup camera and display (gov’t estimate; industry typically doubles what the gov’t claims, or gov’t halves what the industry says something costs).

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